


The Last Time

by Weasleymama



Series: Kiss With A Fist [1]
Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Child Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Domestic Violence, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Humiliation, Murder, Physical Abuse, Self-Defense, Threats, Trauma, Underage Sex, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 02:19:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9102127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weasleymama/pseuds/Weasleymama
Summary: “I like singing better than yelling, please don’t yell.” A seven year old Maya told Riley Matthews the first day they met. When Riley asked who was yelling, Maya replied: “My mommy and daddy. They always are.”What if Kermit didn’t leave, what if the yelling only got worse? What if the man who couldn’t keep a job while his wife worked two began to take his aggressions out on his wife and daughter?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * Constructive criticism
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author replies to all comments!

“Maya!” Katy’s voice tried to scream out but she was too hoarse, “Don’t!” She reached out a hand despite being too far away to actually grab her daughter but Maya didn’t respond.

It had been said in films and books that before you die your life flashes before your eyes. But Maya didn’t know that the same thing would happen to her just before she took someone else’s life. They came like flashes while she stared down the man that caused her pain - that made her believe she was at fault for all she suffered.

 

 

> **AGE 5**
> 
> “Stop!” Katy snapped, grabbing her husband’s arm as he raised it to bring the belt down on his five-year-old’s backside. “It’s too much! She’s a baby, Kermit!” She hadn’t wanted him to strike her baby, especially not with a belt, she was too little for that kind of punishment.
> 
> But with her intervention, Kermit turned the belt on his wife. He laid blow after blow on her as he shouted her down. “Don’t you. Ever. EVER. Undermine. My fucking. Authority.” Maya had seen her mother hit before, but never like this. With wide eyes she watched as her mother cowered from the leather that came down on her. After the first few, Maya’s fear took over and she ran to hide in the closet. She curled in a ball and plugged her ears with her fingers while she cried – trying to drown out the sound from the other room of the belt hitting her mother and the cries that followed. She was sure, even at the age of 5 that she was bad, if she hadn’t gotten in trouble her mother wouldn’t be getting hurt. If she’d been a good girl it wouldn’t have happened at all.
> 
> Maya ducked lower when the closet door opened, trying to hide behind the hanging clothes and shoes. “Come here baby girl.” Katy said softly, kneeling on the floor and holding her arms out to her daughter. She’d cleaned up, changed her clothes and nearly all traces of the beating were covered or washed away. She moved slowly and hid her wince as Maya reached out and clung to her mother. “It’s okay baby, everything’s okay. You’re not a bad girl, everyone gets a spanking sometime, even mommy.” She tried her hardest to keep her daughter from living in fear, to keep her family happy. “Daddy didn’t hurt me, he wouldn’t do that. He loves us.” 
> 
> ** AGE 6**
> 
> “What happened sweetheart?” Maya looked up at the doctor with shame-filled eyes. 
> 
> _She’d been walking behind her father, following him up the stairs to their home. She’d been happy, had a great day at school with her best friend. She’d been praised by her teachers and was skipping on the steps. She’d been moving slower than Kermit and he was growing more and more annoying with her the further they walked. “Maya!” he snapped, looking over his shoulder as he reached out. He took hold of her arm and gave her a tug. She lost her balance at the sudden grab and began to fall._
> 
> _She didn’t scream right away, she was sure that her father had a hold of her. He would catch her, father’s caught their daughters. She got one look at his face, emotionless and almost curious as his fingers loosened and he let her fall backwards. She tumbled down the concrete steps her breath knocked out of her with the first thump of her small body. It took him a second before he called out “Maya!” and rushed after her. He looked at her on the ground, immediately turning black and blue as she screamed out._
> 
> _The woman who lived across the hall poked her head out at the screams and Kermit just yelled up. “She fell down the stairs, call 911!” As he knelt down beside Maya he spoke sternly. “See, this is what happens when you don’t listen to me. If you’d just stayed with me instead of being so stupid you wouldn’t have fallen.”_
> 
> “I fell.” Maya told the doctor, tears still in her eyes. “Daddy tried to catch me but he couldn’t reach. I-I wasn’t listening and was skipping the steps.” She sniffled, they’d given her some pain medication so the screaming stopped but she could still see all that was happening. She watched the needle from the stitches going towards the cut over her eye and she watched as her broken arm was set in a cast.
> 
> At school she showed off her wounds like she was proud of them, her stitches were the show of the class and everyone around signed her cast and drew on it with different colored markers. She never told a soul that he let go of her hand, and after a while she began to believe it had been her fault as well.
> 
> **AGE 7**
> 
> Maya had walked more than 10 blocks without being stopped by an adult, having taken risks in life before even knowing what a risk was. She’d just wanted to get away from the yelling, from the pain. It wasn’t only Kermit who screamed, and it wasn’t only Kermit who slapped. Katy got blows in as well, but her father’s always seemed to come down harder. Maya didn’t want to hear apologies any longer, she didn’t want to see bruises and feel the sting of her father’s hand on her skin. She was sure if she wasn’t there, it wouldn’t be so bad.
> 
> When she heard the sound of the joyful singing coming from an open window, she was drawn to it. She climbed up the fire escape without any problems and without fear poked her head inside. After all, with singing like that, what bad things could ever be inside? 
> 
> “Please don’t yell.” She spoke softly to the little girl in the window. “I like singing better than yelling.”
> 
> “Who’s yelling?” The small brunette asked.
> 
> “My mommy and daddy,” Maya replied, and when asked why the answer was simple. “They always are.”
> 
> **AGE 8**
> 
> “Maya…” The school counselor was an older woman, plump with gray curls on her head and kind eyes. Maya wondered sometimes what it would be like to hug someone like her. Her mother was thin and her father didn’t hug…her friend’s parents hugged but they were both thin too. She looked like she’d be soft and warm to hug. But Maya would never tell a soul what went through her head. She learned that what she had to say didn’t matter after numerous attempts to speak to her father were shot down. She’d wanted the man to see she wasn’t bad, that she was a good girl and wouldn’t make him mad anymore…but she’d heard ‘shut up’ and ‘go to your room’ enough times to stop trying.
> 
> “Your teacher tells me that you won’t talk in class, that you never raise your hand and never read aloud when it’s your turn.” Maya just looked at her knees, the jeans were wearing thin there and whiter as they were ready to fray. She focused her attention on the small threads that would eventually snap, anything not to look at the woman across the desk. “Maya are you listening to me?”
> 
> “Yes, Miss Roe.” She mumbled. She didn’t want to be called down to the office, she didn’t want to be called out in front of the other students. She wanted to be invisible. 
> 
> “Why don’t you want to talk in class?” But she just shrugged. “Maya. Is everything okay at home?”
> 
> “Yup.”
> 
> “Maya-” but she was cut off.
> 
> “I just don’t want to talk in class! I don’t like those stupid books. I do my work why can’t everyone just leave me alone!?” She snapped this time, kicking the backside of the desk and knocking over a cup of pencils. 
> 
> “That’s enough.” Maya quickly closed her lips tight. “Maya if you don’t change your attitude and start participating in class then I’m going to have to call your mom and dad and have a talk about your behavior. Understand?”
> 
> Maya glared at the older woman, even at age 8 she knew a threat when she heard one. Instead of showing shame and apologizing Maya looked even angrier. “Whatever.” She muttered. Maya knew deep down that her behavior would get her into trouble, but she couldn’t seem to stop. 
> 
> She knew the moment she got home that Miss Roe had called home. She had only just opened the door when the large hand grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her inside and pushed her to the floor. “I’m sorry.” She said immediately, trying to lighten what was coming before it happened. 
> 
> “School called today.” Kermit said in a low voice as Katy spun on her heels in shock. “She’s been acting up, not doing her work and causing problems.” He spoke to Katy, but looked at Maya. Katy swallowed hard and turned back to the stove. She knew what was coming, and she knew there was nothing she could do to stop it. 
> 
> “I’m sorry…I won’t do it again.” Maya muttered. 
> 
> “Go get the belt.” Kermit’s words were almost hollow and it was hard for Maya to remember a time when he spoke with a smile.
> 
> “Dad I-”
> 
> “Now.” Maya flinched at the single word as she started walking. She brought back his leather belt and handed it over with shaking hands. The situation wasn’t an uncommon one, she had to get the belt herself even knowing what was going to happen with it. She closed her eyes tight as she turned around, bracing herself. The belt came down against her backside and the backs of her legs. She bit her lip hard trying not to yelp as the tears rolled down her face. 
> 
> When the belt hit the back of her knees Maya fell to the floor. She stayed down as she cried, never knowing if more would come. This time she’d gotten lucky and he’d stopped when she fell. “If you’d behave just once in your life I wouldn’t have to do this.” He mumbled as he stepped over her and moving to put his belt away. 
> 
>  
> 
> ** AGE 9 **
> 
> Maya wanted so much to be good, to make her parents proud of her. She sat at the table long after dinner trying to finish her homework, her eyes glanced towards her father wondering if she should ask for help. He seemed in a good enough mood today, he even smiled at her when she got home from school. 
> 
> “Daddy?” She called softly, too softly, he didn’t move and so she tried again. “Daddy?”
> 
> Kermit looked over at Maya then, annoyed to be disrupted while watching his movie. “What?”
> 
> Maya immediately felt regret. “Uh, uh, nothing, sorry.”
> 
> “Nothing? Why did you call me for nothing?”
> 
> “I just, thought maybe…” She hesitated, trying to gauge his temperament from his eyes. 
> 
> “What?!” He snapped, losing patience with her already.
> 
> “I thought maybe you could help me.” She spoke fast, just wanting to get it out and braced herself for yelling. But she was surprised once more as Kermit let out a huff and stood. He walked across the room, first opening the fridge and pulling out a beer and then leaning over the table and looking down at the mess of fractions and eraser marks on the page. 
> 
> “This is a mess.” He muttered. “It’s no wonder you fail everything, I can’t even read this shit.” He reached down and pulled the lined page from the notebook, crumpling it and tossing it towards the trash can much to his daughter’s dismay. “Now start over and do it right.”
> 
> Maya bit at her lip as it quivered, looking at the balled up paper in the top of the trash can as her father walked away from her, going back to his chair. She took in a deep breath and went to retrieve the paper from the garbage. She’d been working on it all night, she couldn’t just throw it away. 
> 
> Kermit turned in time to see her reaching for the mess he’d thrown away. “What are you doing?!” He snapped in a tone that made her freeze. “I told you to do it again!” He took long stomping strides across the room and grabbed her arm – still extended to grab out the paper. He pulled her backwards and let go, sending her down to the floor. “You want to go through the trash instead of do what I tell you? Fine.” He lifted the trash and emptied it over her, covering her in leftover food, beer cans and coffee grinds along with other random garbage. She tried to cover her head but he seemed to make sure she was covered in the disgusting mess.
> 
> He grabbed Maya’s arm and jerked her to her feet, shoving her small body into the chair once more. “Now you can sit there all night for all I care, don’t get up until it’s done.” Maya didn’t understand what she’d done wrong or why he was so angry, but she knew better than to ask. When she finally finished the homework, Kermit didn’t even look at the page. He only told her she stunk and to clean the floor before taking a shower.
> 
> ** AGE 10 **
> 
> If Maya could, she would move in with the Matthew’s. She loved her mother, she didn’t want to leave her alone with her father, but life was so much better in the Matthew’s home. She slept comfortably next to Riley in the large bed, she woke up to hot breakfast and a happy family. She hated keeping secrets from them, but she couldn’t tell them what happened in her home. It was her fault and if they knew how bad she was they may not let her come over so much.  
> 
> 
> She hid her winces from Riley when the bruises were bad, she always wore long pants to cover the marks he left. He was careful not to hit her where people could see, especially after the child services inquiry when she’d fallen down the stairs. The few times he lost his temper and hit her somewhere visible she took a couple sick days from school or wore clothes that could cover it. And would blame her then too, telling her that if she told people he’d go to jail and it would be her fault she didn’t have a dad anymore. It was something he’d been telling her since the first time he struck her.
> 
> It wasn’t until a sleepover when she was nine that Riley saw a bruise on her. “Maya! What happened?!” She gasped as she came into the bathroom completely. Maya had been changing into pajamas and Riley hadn’t knocked but just let herself in.
> 
> “Riley!” She quickly covered herself up. “I’m not dressed!” 
> 
> Riley closed the door, locking them both inside. “What happened?” She tried to see the marks on Maya’s leg but her friend kept turning away as she pulled up the pants. 
> 
> “Nothing, I’m fine…” Riley’s big doe eyes made her look like a Disney princess and it made it hard to lie to her but Maya found a way to do it. “It’s embarrassing but I was running down the stairs and I slipped and went right down on my butt. My legs hit the steps and it hurt so much, but…” she sighed. “I just looked so stupid, this girl in the building laughed at me.” 
> 
> Riley frowned and move to hug her best friend. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
> 
> “Yeah, it was just embarrassing…can we not talk about it anymore, it makes me feel stupid.”
> 
> **AGE 11**  
> 
> 
> Now old enough to make dinner she was tasked with doing so nightly while her mother worked. She tried her best to make a good dinner for herself and her father, always making sure to put something back for her mother when she got home in the middle of the night. 
> 
> Kermit pushed past her to the pan of hamburger helper she’d been making. He stirred it, scraping the bottom to turn up blackened noodles and immediately he turned on her. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” he snapped, throwing the spoon down. “Can’t you do anything right?!” He snapped as he grabbed the handle of the pan and slung the contents across the room towards the trash. 
> 
> Maya let out a scream as the hot noodles and sauce her arm, burning her soft pale flesh as the rest splattered across the kitchen. “One thing, Maya! One fucking thing, you’re supposed to do for someone else and you can’t even do that?!” She tried to wipe off the hot sauce from her arm but the burn had already set in. Her arm shook as she tried to hold back tears while scolded. “You’d better learn how to take care of yourself, little girl, because as soon as you’re 18 you’re out of here and if you starve because you can’t make a god dammed meal it will be your own damn fault.”
> 
> ** AGE 12 **
> 
> “Stop it!” Maya screamed rushing at her father as his fist rose again, ready to come down on his wife once more. Maya grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back. She didn’t know or care what he was angry about, she only knew Katy was sobbing and cowering and it was enough. “Stop it, daddy!” She begged.
> 
> Kermit’s arm was pulled down by the weight – slight as it was – of his pre-teen daughter. He turned to her, fire in his eyes. Eyes that once resembled Maya’s so much now only looked dark and full of hate. He took hold of Maya with his other hand, pulling her clinging arms off him. While she got her wish and he didn’t hit her mother – his hand came down instead on Maya. The back of his hand flew across her face and sent her reeling to the floor where she received a kick in the ribs
> 
> “You think you’re so big?” He snapped at her reaching down and taking her chin into his hand and forcing her to look at him. “How big are you now?” 
> 
> Katy reached for Maya, pulling her daughter close to her. “Kermit, please, she was just trying to take care of her momma. She doesn't know any better.” 
> 
> Both mother and daughter cried as Kermit shook his head and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.
> 
> ** AGE 13 **
> 
> She thought she was tougher now, she was a teenager after all. She thought she was smarter than he was now. She was small but fast. She’d learned his routine when he was angry, where he’d strike first was always out of sight. 
> 
> When Kermit’s hand rose – belt held tightly, Maya dodged the blow and took off down the hall. She slammed the bedroom door and locked it behind her. What she didn’t plan for was not being able to get away. 
> 
> She had only just pushed the window open when he slammed his body into her door so hard it busted the door frame apart and the door flew open. Maya’s eyes went wide in shock and fear – his eyes were full of so much rage at her daring to run from him. She made it out the window but she didn’t get to the ladder before a large hand reached out and took hold.
> 
> He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her backwards. Maya immediately grabbed for her hair as well, trying to keep him from tearing it out of her head as the pain shot through her. He pulled her back inside the apartment, slamming the window shut. 
> 
> She looked up from where he dropped her on the floor to see the belt still in his hand. She immediately curled into a ball, covering her head and face as he brought it down on her again and again. Her skin was covered in welts before he finished, leaving her in so much pain she didn’t move from that spot on the floor until morning.
> 
> ** AGE 14 **
> 
> Maya hadn’t paid attention as she’d crossed the room, stepping in front of the TV during what was an important moment in a game to Kermit. “Move stupid!” His words didn’t hurt anymore and she didn’t move fast enough as she gathered her school bag and books. "Bitch." Kermit lost his temper in mere seconds, and the empty beer bottle in his hand came flying towards her. Maya ducked but as the bottle hit the wall, the glass ricocheted and sliced into her arm.
> 
> “What the fuck?” he snapped as he caught sight of the blood. “You’re gonna get it on the rug! Get out of here with that!” He didn’t check her wound or realize that she probably needed stitches this time, only that he had money on the game and incorporated his team’s losing score to being her fault somehow.
> 
> **AGE 15**
> 
> Kermit had been gone for two months and Maya hoped he would never come back. He disappeared before, but this was the longest he’d ever been gone. She finally felt comfortable in her own home, she and Katy had finally begun to breathe and live without fear taking over their every move. 
> 
> Feeling safe, Maya even risked bringing home a date that evening – taking advantage of an empty house. On her bed in the dark, Maya was naked beneath a boy naked Chris. Sex was the closest thing to love Maya had been able to obtain. She didn’t feel pleasure from the act, only liked being close to someone, making him feel good and hearing him say he loved her. 
> 
> Neither teenager heard the front door open but in no time her bedroom door flew open and the lights came on. Maya gasped as the two jumped apart at the entrance of Maya’s very angry father. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Kermit’s eyes went wide in shock of what was happening – then narrowed quickly. Chris jumped up, grabbing at his clothes to make a run for it, but Kermit got to him first. His first punch went to the boy’s face, knocking him to the ground. “Don’t you fucking move.” He told his frightened daughter – and she didn’t do more than cover herself with her sheets while he drug her date out of the apartment. 
> 
> “If you ever come back here, I will kill you with my bare hands.” He growled at the young boy before throwing him out the door. Chris tried to catch himself, but Kermit threw him so hard he hit the wall across the hall with a thud before he hit the floor. 
> 
> He slammed the door and his attention and anger was back on his daughter. He was quickly back in her room in a rage. “You fucking little slut! I go away for a couple days and this is what I come home to?!” He jerked the sheet out of her hand. “You want to show your body to that little prick then you can show it to the whole fucking world.” He snapped as he reached for her. Kermit gripped her arm so tightly his knuckles went white. He twisted her arm behind her back and ripped the blanket from the window before shoving her against the cold glass. “Go ahead, show them all.” She tried to cover herself as best she could from all their neighbors seeing her, but with her arm held painfully behind her back she couldn’t cover everything. 
> 
> “I should have known this is what you’d become with a mother like yours. Filthy fucking little whore. You trying to get knocked up and trap a man too?” He hissed, pushing her arm further only causing her to cry out. “Do you know what happens to dirty little sluts?” He asked her, pulling her back just enough to push her into the window again. “Or is that what you want? How about you go out there and get some money for your damaged ass?” 
> 
> Tears fell down her face, she could take the smacks, but the humiliation was a new kind of pain. “Well I won’t have it.” He snapped, twisting her entire body around and pulling her along as he walked out of the room. He moved fast, making Maya stumble as she kept trying to cover herself. “No daughter of mine is going to be some fucking nasty whore.” He stopped at the bathroom door, pulling her up to face him. “I won’t have it, do you understand me.” And before she could even nod, his hand flew across her face hard and had he not held onto her she would have fallen. He held her on her feet long enough to recover from the blow before he shoved her hard into the bathroom. “Clean yourself up.” She fell backwards with the push, crashing through the glass shower door with a scream and landing in the tub surrounded with glass. 
> 
> Kermit looked at her with cold eyes as he reached past her and turned on the hot water, the shower spraying down on her. “You better make yourself as clean as you were before I left or I’ll treat you like the whore you’ve become.” He threatened as the water in the tub swirled with red from the cuts on her back and arms. Maya tried to get out of the tub without getting hurt further – first turning off the water, and then reaching for a towel to wrap around her hand to push herself up. 
> 
> ** AGE 16 **
> 
> There was something in Kermit’s eyes this time, something colder than ever before. There was something in the way he hit with no regard for anyone seeing the marks, with no hesitation. There was a rage so strong in him that Maya knew this was it, he wasn’t going to stop, he was going to kill them this time.
> 
> He’d beaten her mother, choked her and slammed her into walls so hard he busted the drywall. She’d tried to leave, she’d tried to tell him she wanted a divorce and he snapped. He wasn’t going to let her walk away from him, he wasn’t going to lose his family no matter how much they angered him. He wasn’t going to lose anything.
> 
> Maya had tried to stay out of things in the past, helping her mother clean up but learning her lesson early on about trying to stop her father – but this time she knew she had to try. She had to do something or they could all die that night. 
> 
> She rushed him this time shoving him instead of grabbing his arm. She pushed him with her whole body to get him away from her mother and was met with a fist to the face that busted her lip open for her efforts. He gave Katy one more kick, ensuring she was staying down before he turned his rage on his daughter. “You think you’re going to leave me too?” He challenged her. “Think I’m letting either of you walk away from me? I’ll fucking kill you both before I let you walk out that door.”
> 
> He’d never said the words before and Maya could feel truth seeping from them. “I’m not scared of you anymore.” She forced the words out and he faked her out with a fist raised, lunging at her. When she flinched back he laughed.
> 
> “Oh you’re scared.” He moved in closer to her, narrow eyes watching her. “You think you can take me on, little girl?” he mocked her. “Go on, I’ll give you a free shot.” He held his hands out, opening himself up for her. But as soon as she stepped forward he quickly grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her past him. She hit the coffee table hard as she went down and could feel the sticky red blood from her forehead moving down her face but she wasn’t giving up. As Kermit began to disregard her and go back to his wife, Maya got up.
> 
> Breathing heavy she blocked his way to Katy and he began to get annoyed with her. “You ought to learn to stay down.” He told her. She swung a fist then, getting in a hit to his jaw that hurt her hand as much as it hurt his face but she swung again anyway.
> 
> He blocked her second hit and reached forward quickly and took hold of her throat as he’d done to her mother. She tried to gasp for air, clawing at his hand as he squeezed. He forced her backwards, reaching the wall and slamming her into it. Already out of breath and having the wind knocked out of her forced Maya to slide down to floor. He swiftly kicked her in the side hoping to keep her down this time as he went back to his wife who was now pulling herself up to try and get to her daughter.
> 
> Maya wheezed as she tried to catch he breath, refusing to give up. Unable to stand, she crawled down the hall to her parents bedroom. She knew what she had to do now. In her parent’s bedroom, in the left nightstand drawer under a few dirty magazines was her father’s handgun. She’d found it once while snooping and it had terrified her, but now she wasn’t scared anymore. 
> 
> She still had trouble breathing properly, but she took the gun in her hands and pulled herself to her feet. In the middle of the living room, her father knelt over his wife hands around her neck. Maya didn’t hesitate this time, she brought the gun down on the back of his head.
> 
> The hit was only hard enough to stun Kermit and he turned to her blinking hard and she took her chance and slammed him with her knee. She landed the hit against his mouth, sending him backwards off Katy. Before he could get up Maya pointed the gun at him. She stood holding in in two hands – hands that no longer shook. She glared at him with so much hate and rage of her own. Never before would she think she was someone who could take a life, but this was what he’d made her. 

 

“Maya!” Katy’s voice tried to scream out but she was too hoarse, “Don’t!” She reached out a hand despite being too far away to actually grab her daughter but Maya didn’t respond. A cut above Maya’s eye streaked blood down her face only to mix with the blood from her busted lip. Despite the broken ribs she stood strong, no longer allowing the pain affect her. There were no tears now, she hadn’t cried in years – only hate filled her pretty blue eyes.

Kermit smiled up at his daughter, no fear in his eyes. His teeth were red from the blood in his mouth. She was going to pay for fighting back, and as soon as she put that gun down he was going to make her regret it. Kermit was sure she had no idea what she was doing other than trying to scare him so when the gun went off, he didn’t even have time to react before the bullet hit him. 

Katy reached Maya too late, not able to pull herself up with the broken ribs she suffered. “Maya!” She grabbed her daughter’s arm then, taking the gun away from her as Maya stood still as a stone, staring down at her father’s boy. She’d hit him in the center of his chest and he lay on his back in a pool of blood. “Maya what did you do!?” Katy cried out, the sight of her husband, dead at her daughter’s hand was terrifying. 

Still in a slight trance, Maya turned to face her mother. “I fixed it. He can’t hurt you anymore.” Maya muttered, the full scope of what she’d done not yet sinking in. 

But it was hitting Katy full force. All she could see was the police taking her baby away. She hardened herself and took in a deep breath, shooting the gun herself, but to the side, away from Kermit. She dropped it then and turned to Maya. She took her daughter’s face in her hand. “Maya look at me. Maya!” Maya’s eyes met her mother’s as sirens were heard outside – someone in the building had called the police, she was sure of it. “Maya. You shot the gun and missed. I shot him.” Katy told her daughter. “Say it, Maya.” She was forceful, shaking her daughter slightly. 

“I missed. You shot him.” She repeated. 

“That’s right. I shot him to save us. **I** did it.” She told Maya again. She wasn’t going to let her daughter take any blame for what happened that night. She’d failed to protect her all her life, she knew she had to protect her now. When the police arrived Katy was sitting on the couch with Maya, calmly stroking the young girl’s hair. She looked up at the officers and spoke plainly with no remorse in her voice. “I shot my husband.”


End file.
